HCDE 511 - Data Visualization
Encampments have become a highly visible and often debated topic in Seattle. But behind the headlines are everyday decisions about where to find food, transportation, or a safe place to sleep.
This project maps encampments alongside nearby shelters, food banks, parks and transit to explore one key question: how accessible are essential resources from encampments? As you explore these relationships, you’ll uncover patterns of access and gain a deeper understanding of where support is within reach and where critical gaps may exist.
BACKGROUND
Seattle's Encampment Trend
Figure 1: Encampment reports in Seattle from April 2018 - April 2026
Reported encampments remained relatively stable until 2021, peaking at nearly 77K reports in 2025.
The graph measures reported encampments over time. During 2020, the reported encampment decreased and rose again in 2021. By 2025, reported encampments are nearly seven times higher than in 2018. While this trend reveals a substantial increase in encampments citywide, it raises an important follow-up question: where are these encampments concentrated? To better understand patterns of access and need, the next analysis examines which neighborhoods have the highest encampment counts and how they relate to nearby shelters, food resources, and public transportation.
Figure 2: Encampment reports by Seattle neighborhood
Three neighborhoods account for over a third of Seattle's encampment reports: Ballard, Downtown and Capitol Hill
Seattle's encampment reports are concentrated in a handful of neighborhoods. Ballard tops the list with nearly 35,000 reports over eight years, followed closely by Downtown and Capitol Hill, each just above 31,000. Together, these three neighborhoods generate more than a third of all reports filed citywide. However, since this is a count of reports about encampments, high-foot-traffic neighborhoods with active residents tend to generate more calls per visible encampment than quieter areas.
KEY FINDINGS
Figure 3: Seattle's top 20 encampment hotspots:
Walking time to the nearest service
The defining trait of these locations is convergence: transit, parks, and food banks are all just minutes away
We looked at the 20 most-reported sites to understand what makes a location persistent. Many of them appear in the same location from April 2018 through April 2026, meaning people have been returning to those exact coordinates for the entire observation window.
Walking time from Seattle's 20 most-reported encampment hotspots reveals a clear pattern. These places are combinations of multiple utilities sources nearby. Transit, parks (which often offer restrooms, water, and open space), and food banks are all within a 5-minute walk on average. Shelter is the outlier, averaging over 10 minutes, and stretching past 40 for some hotspots in North Seattle. Transit access is nearly universal: 19 of 20 hotspots are within a 3-minute walk of a bus stop. Parks and food banks are usually close too, mostly under 5 minutes. But shelter access is uneven. Pioneer Square's hotspot reaches a shelter in 0.8 minutes; Licton Springs takes 42.6.
Figure 4: Encampment locations in proximity to essential services
Most Encampments Are Within Walking Distance of Essential Services
Seattle has logged 254,863 encampment reports, and the same handful of sites keep surfacing as hot spots year after year. The clustering isn't random. The places people return to, even after a cleanup, tend to be the ones closest to services: 99.8% of reports fall within a ten-minute walk of transit (bus and Link stations), 92.5% within reach of a park, 76.4% of a food bank, and 43.1% of a shelter.
One interpretation of this pattern is that people return to places where daily survival is possible such as transit, food, park with bathrooms, and water are accessible, even when shelter is farther away. This may also reflect the limitations of the current shelter system. In Seattle, shelter availability is limited, and rules around couples, pets, belongings, sobriety, and curfews may not align with how people actually live. When shelter feels inaccessible or incompatible, people may instead rely on places that provide the everyday conditions needed to survive.
SPATIAL PATTERNS
Where are encampments most concentrated? Explore neighborhoods with the highest encampment density and see what resources are nearby.
Are resources located where they are needed most? Compare access to shelters, food resources, and transit across neighborhoods.
What patterns do you notice? Look for connections between encampment locations and access to essential services.
Figure 5: The geography of encampments and services in Seattle
What Have We Learned?
Encampments are shaped less by shelter access and more by everyday survival needs. Persistent encampment sites are overwhelmingly located near food resources and transit stops, suggesting that people prioritize access to mobility, daily necessities, and public infrastructure over proximity to shelters alone.
Transit may be acting as an invisible support system. The strong concentration of encampments near bus and Link stations suggests that mobility is critical for accessing jobs, food, healthcare, and safer public spaces. Transit access may be just as important as formal support services in shaping where people remain.
Current support systems may not align with where need is concentrated. High-density hotspots such as District 6 (Northwest Seattle) and District 3 (Capitol Hill/Central District) repeatedly emerge despite uneven shelter access, raising questions about whether services are being distributed where people actually return and stay.